Innocence Projects’ praise for Texas Forensic Commission’s deep look into bitemarks

Posted on December 16, 2015 by csidds

The NY Innocence Project talks about this week’s New York Times article which has gone viral on the Net as an example of forensic science “reform” taking place in Texas. The bitemarkers are resorting to innuedos and red herrings to defend their artful opinions. The dentists never talk about DNA being obtained from bitemarks which seems strange to me.

The Commission has a long list of dubious casework involving bitemark aided convictions and at least 2 executions.

(excerpt)

“Over the weekend, the New York Times reported on the notable efforts that the state of Texas is taking to strengthen its criminal investigations by way of reexamining forensic methods that have come under scrutiny in recent years. At the forefront of those now-discredited methods being evaluated in the Lone Star state is bite mark analysis, an investigation tool that gained popularity in the 1950s with forensic examiners as a means to allegedly link individuals to crime scenes.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/news-events-exonerations/texas-forensic-science-commission-steps-up-to-investigate-bite-mark-analysis

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Major US Forensic Lab Scandals by State : The DOJ takes a stab at solution

Posted on December 15, 2015 by csidds
Rumblings about mess-ups in US government-run  forensic labs has finally reached the US DOJ. The reliability aspects of who does the “accreditation” is another matter. Thanks to NACDL and @celiagivens at the DNA Newsletter.
DOJ to Mandate Lab Accreditation

The Department of Justice has announced a new policy which will require DOJ forensic labs to “obtain and maintain accreditation and will require all department prosecutors to use accredited labs to process forensic evidence when practicable” by 2020. The policy is an attempt to tackle numerous crime lab scandals that have been uncovered in recent years.

But the policy falls short of genuine reform. It only affects labs used by the DOJ and has an implementation date set five years in the future. Further, Frontline reports“the new policy seemingly has a built-in loophole” that only requires use of accredited labs “when practicable,” meaning non-accredited labs may be relied upon if there are delays or excessive costs at accredited labs.
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Forensics: How Police actions can lead to a Homicide years after the incident

Posted on December 15, 2015 by csidds

Remember that when a medical examiner renders homicide as the manner of a death, there are three subcategories ranging from 1) murder 2) manslaughter and 3) justifiable. This article talks about a police-action-related injury (brain injury) evolving years later to death of the injured man. Of course, it is the law enforcement agencies who make the ruling regarding which of the 3 categories “fit” this specific case. The first two would be criminal indictments against the police officer. These have been extremely rare occurrences, but recently, The Atlantic’s “Killer Cops” article records 14 indictments against policemen for murder in past months.

http://q13fox.com/2015/12/11/christopher-harris-attorney-man-slammed-into-wall-by-deputy-in-2009-dies/

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Forensics: Correcting the effects of junk science is problematic in the US

Posted on December 14, 2015 by csidds

The separation of the US judiciary individual  state court systems creates a systemic obstacle to curing past damage created by flawed CSI expert testimony. Montana is the example used in this article to put this in a sharper focus.

http://mtstandard.com/crime-and-courts/some-states-review-flawed-hair-analysis-convictions-but-so-far/article_078e5c5d-2d97-503f-b9fa-af337aa08585.html

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Forensics: Decomp rate of microbial system in dead bodies considered marker for TOD

Posted on December 13, 2015 by csidds

Dead bodies are the topic today. Researchers from UC of San Diego are talking about Time of Death determinations using bacteria. Considering the encironmental and physical factors that influence decomposition rathers, this research still has a longgg way to go.

http://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2015-12-10-decomp-study-tool-for-forensic-science.aspx

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Forensics: New York Times calls Bitemarkers’ Evidence risking “Lives in Balance”

Posted on December 12, 2015 by csidds

The lack of legit validation for the AAFS supported bitemark ID group was in plain sight during last month’s Texas Forensic Science Commission fact-finding hearing on this junk forensic science. This photo shows Innocent Project’s Director of Strategic Litigation Chris Fabricant (standing) with Steven Mark Chaney and his wife. Chaney spent 28 years in Texas prison from a now recanted bitemark opinion.

The TxFSC allowed a presentation of the bitemark believers to start in the morning with the first bitemark speaker taking a preachy POV with the Commission. He admitted some past “sins” of his faith-based “science,” rather than science-based colleagues who are now reveling in a newer perspective. Speaking of this rebirth, he brought forth a nearly indecipherable investigative check-list  called “The Tree” combined with an emotional plea to protect abused children. He then ran overtime chipping away at the non-believers of bitemark matching being “a problem” and/or unqualified as “bitemark scientists” like he claims to be. This includes the US National Academy of Science.

But, he forgot to mention his financial interests in teaching unsuspecting aspirant forensic dentists these “new and improved” methods at his Texas university job and forensic meetings in the United States.

All of this hopefulness belies the cold fact that the Commission has identified 30 bitemark assisted cases in Texas which resulted in criminal convictions.

I know of two Texas executions the Commission should investigate as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/us/lives-in-balance-texas-leads-scrutiny-of-bite-mark-forensics.html?_r=0

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Forensic expert muses on his certitude that possible death penalty outcome is not relevant

Posted on December 12, 2015 by csidds

This is the landscape of  NGRI the defense (not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to be executed). Or lack thereof.

If nothing else, this open declaration by a forensic expert reveals a rationale of the “greater good” somehow strengthens him even when other experts disagree. This includes one particular death penalty case. He stands by his belief in the legal concept “reasonable medical certainty.” Not a few legal commentators wonder what that phrase actually means when a qualified expert opines this as an underlying source of reliability for the courts. He does mention some ethical guidelines of his profession. Whatever works for him, I guess.

http://www.healio.com/psychiatry/journals/psycann/2015-12-45-12/%7B016c210a-200c-4e02-b3e4-d09f549abe8c%7D/reflections-on-death-penalty-evaluations-how-can-you-sleep-at-night

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Forensics: Belfast Detective faked sexual assault tests to reduce caseload

Posted on December 12, 2015 by csidds

“Working in the Metropolitan Police’s Sapphire sex crimes unit, he failed to send evidence including swabs and a condom for forensic and toxicological tests before recording “negative” results in the crime reporting information system (Cris).”

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/jail-for-detective-who-faked-results-of-forensic-tests-in-sex-crime-inquiries-34276502.html

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Forensics: Freddie Gray death trial brings out all sorts of theories of what, where, and how

Posted on December 11, 2015 by csidds

The opposing attorneys do battle with expert wits in a way that really highlights the entire legal adversary process in the US CJ system. The degree of physical impairment from the cervical injury is well described. The timeline of where and when the injury occurred is a point of major disagreement. The defense is claiming an accident occurred (therefore no homicide). The prosecutor argues “malice” and/or “disregard for human life” which is the prima facie case for a murder charge.

http://kpic.com/news/nation-world/neurosurgeon-tells-jury-he-believes-freddie-grays-injury-was-not-survivable

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Forensics: Goulish story about vampirism myths in the United States

Posted on December 11, 2015 by csidds

(What a crazy set of teeth. Awesome dental prosthetic from the  “Nosferatu” silent film.)

This confirms that New Englanders always have had a strange way about themselves.

http://strangeremains.com/2015/11/01/the-vampire-slayings-in-19th-century-new-england/

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